Lamp house assembly



2, 1965 J. A. VAN DEN BROEK 3,

LAMP HOUSE ASSEMBLY Filed June 6, 1963 INVENTOR- J;4/v A. 144 047v fiROE/f United States Patent M 3,215,830 LAMP HOUSE ASSEMBLY Jan A. Van den Broek, Ann Arbor, Mich, assignor to Conductron Corporation, Ann Arbor, Mich, a corporation of Delaware Filed Jane 6, 1963, Ser. No. 286,090 4 Claims. (Cl. 240-44) This invention relates to a lamp house assembly for an optical correlator, lens bench or other optical instrument. In optical devices used for computing, correlating and for other purposes, it is common to have a brilliant light source to serve as a source for rays which are treated by various optical components arranged in a ray path.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a lamp support and housing for an optical system wherein the lamp can be safetly contained and suitably ventilated without danger of injury from outside forces and which will yet be protected in view of the fact that high voltage power must reach it.

It is another object to have a light source suitably shielded to avoid light leakage and also to protect an operator in case of violent failure. It is further important that the device be such that the lamp can be reached for adjustment and replacement without a great deal of dismantling.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a reflector and mount which can be rigdily fixed and yet adjustable when desired.

Other objects and features of the invention relating to details of construction and operation of the mount will be apparent in the following description and claims.

Drawings accompany the disclosure and the various views thereof may be briefly described as:

FIGURE 1, a perspective partially sectioned view of the lamp and housing construction.

FIGURE 2, a partial section showing the lamp post support.

FIGURE 3, an assembly View showing a portion of an optical correlator system with which the lamp house assembly may be used.

FIGURE 4, a view of one of the rigid reflector mount brackets.

Referring to the drawings:

In FIGURE 3, a beam support is shown having certain element mounting devices 12, 14, 16 and 18 and so forth mounted along the beam to serve in a correlator ray system. The lamp housing for the original light source is shown at 20 over-hanging the beam Ill and this housing is mounted by a cantilever plate 22 on the housing base which is suitably bolted to the end of the beam 10. The front of the lamp housing has a circular portion 24 through which passes an outlet opening 26 for the light beam.

The front flange 22 is integral with a bottom casting 28 having a floor panel 30 on which is mounted an L- shaped reflector bracket 32 having a foot portion 34 slotted at 36 so that it may be adjustably mounted fore and aft of the housing and locked by suitable screws 36a. The bracket 32 extends upwardly above a raised pad 37 formed on the floor 30 and has fastened thereto a reflector mount 38 in the form of a disc which is swivel mounted on a ball 40 and adjustable in its position by three set screws 42. The ball 40 lies between bracket 32 and disc 38 suitably recessed in each. Screws 42 have clearance in bracket 32 and are threaded into disc 38. On the reflector mount disc 38 are three support arms 44 spaced 120 apart around the disc, each one having a reentrant groove at the outer end for receiving and supporting the edge of a reflector 50. Two of the arms 44 are rigid with a V- notch to receive the edge of the circular reflector. The

3,215,830 Patented Nov. 2, 1965 third clip 44a is of spring steel to permit release of the reflector when desired and to take u any expansion of the reflector due to heat. The spring clip biases the reflector into the V-notches so it will always have the same position. In FIGURE 4, the rigid arms 44 are shown. The reflector St is a concave spherical reflector having a center of curvature in connection with the illuminating element of a light source 87.

Around the edge of the floor 30 is an upstanding flange 52 serving as a locator and holder for a readily removable lamp housing cover 60 which has a skirt on three sides to fit down around the flange 52. It is held in place by a thumb screw 62 on each side. The lamp house cover is provided with ribs 64 to serve as radiant fins and the cover itself is preferably made of a conductive material such as aluminum which will carry oil? the heat within the housing. Openings 65 between the ribs serve as outlets for air passing upward through the housing. The front of the lamp house cover has a downwardly depending flange 66 which locates directly behind an outwardly extending flange 68 on the front wall of the housing. Thus, each edge of the cover nests into a 90 corner on the base and front wall to form an effective locating joint and light trap.

The floor 30 of the housing is provided with openings 70 for admission of air into the housing and between these openings is a raised integral boss plate 7.1 on which is mounted a lamp assembly. This boss portion 71 carries a lamp support post 74 which passes through insulator buttons 76 clamped by a nut 77 and the post has a threaded top portion which receives nuts 78 and 80 on either side of a radially extending bar 82 apertured to receive the threadedportion of the post. This aperture is of suflicient size that radial adjustment can be had. The bar 82 is split at its outer end to provide a clamping portion having opposed recesses 84 which receive a cylindrical base electrode portion 86 of a mercury lamp 87 (FIG- URE 2). A clamping screw 88 serves to bring the split portions of the bar together to clamp the base of the lamp. The lamp may have a radial arm 90 with a connection 92 for ignition current at the end thereof and at its top end has a cathode connector portion 94. The anode connection is through post 74 and the base 86 of the lamp. Mounted on the boss 71 is a connector post 96 suitably mounted in cap insulators 98 surrounding a sleeve insulator 100 and suitably connected to the post 96 by an upper nut 102 and a lower high voltage connector nut 104. The post 74, suitably mounted in a boss 71 by insulators 76 held by a nut 77, is connected at its bottom end to the anode of a power source.

It will be seen that the connector post 96 is fastened to the ignition connector 92 of the mercury lamp by a flexible conductor 110.

Another post 112 for the cathode connection is mounted on boss 71 in insulator buttons 114 and 116 on either side of the boss, held by nut 117, the post 112 extending downwardly from the bottom of the base and having a suitable cathode connector (not shown) fastened to the bottom end thereof. The top end of the post 112 is connected to the cathode connection 94 at the top end of the mercury lamp 87 by a flexible conductor 120.

It will be seen from the above that the mercury lamp 87 can be adjusted radially and vertically by reason of the positioning of the nuts 78 and 80 on the post 74. The mercury lamp 87 can likewise be swung toward or away from the reflector 50 by reason of the pivotal mount on the post 74 and the flexible connections 110, 120. Also, the reflector can be shifted fore and aft by the movement of the bracket base 34 and it can be aimed by the manipulation of the screws 42 which turn the reflector on its central ball pivot 40. Very fine adjustment is thus possible 2% of the light source. The cover is readily removable by the loosening of screws 62 to make fully accessible the interior of the lamp housing.

To avoid light leakage which may affect the operation of a correlator and may be a disturbance to an operator, the ventilation openings in the housing are shielded. At the top of the cover 60, spaced from its inner upper surface, is a shield 124 which underlies the vent openings between the fins 64. This shield is supported by screws 125 and spacers 126. It has depending flanges 123 and at the fore and aft edges to insure proper shielding. The housing and shields also protect against violent failure of the lamps which may happen on occasion.

At the bottom of the housing within a depending skirt 132 around the base 28 is a bottom shield 134 underlying the holes 70 in the floor 30 and spaced from the bottom of the floor by spacers 136 through which pass fastening screws 138. The shield 134 is preferably formed of an insulating material such as Bakelite fiber to insure further insulation of the connections at the bottom of posts 74,

96 and 112. The shield 134 is apertured at 140 to clear the bottom cap insulator 98 which is held in place on the bottom of post 96 by connector nut 104.

It will thus be seen that a lamp housing is provided having suitable mechanical and light shielding and protecting characteristics while permitting adequate ventilation and adjustment and ready access to the operating parts when desired.

I claim:

1. In a lamp house assembly,

(a) a base comprising a floor panel and a raised front panel normal to the base apertured to serve as a light passage, a raised locating flange around the periphery of said base, and a depending skirt around the periphery of said base, said floor panel having vent apertures formed therein,

(b) a cover housing to overlie said base and abut the edges of said front panel to enclose a space above said floor panel, said cover having fins formed thereon with ventilating openings between said fins,

(c) a light shield within said cover housing spaced from and underlying said ventilating openings and a light shield within the depending skirt of said base spaced from and underlying said openings in said fioor panel,

(d) a lamp support on said floor panel,

(e) a lamp movably mounted in said support,

(f) a reflector shield supported on said floor panel positioned adjustably adjacent said lamp in line with the aperture in said front panel,

(g) the lamp support serving as an anode connection for a lamp and comprising a post mounted in but insulated from said floor panel, an arm extending from said post having a vertical recess to receive a lamp base, and means to clamp said lamp base in said recess.

2. In a lamp house assembly,

(a) a base comprising a floor panel and a raised front panel normal to the base apertured to serve as a light passage, a raised locating flange around the periphery of said base, and a depending skirt around the periphery of said base, said floor panel having vent apertures formed therein,

(b) a cover housing to overlie said base and abut the edges of said front panel to enclose a space above said floor panel, said cover having fins formed thereon with ventilating openings between said fins,

(c) a light shield within said cover housing spaced from and underlying said ventilating openings and a light shield within the depending skirt of said base spaced from and underlying said openings in said floor panel,

(d) a lamp support on said floor panel,

(e) a lamp movably mounted in said support,

(f) a reflector shield supported on said floor panel positioned adjustably adjacent said lamp in line with the aperture in said front panel,

(g) the reflector shield being supported on said floor panel by a mount comprising an L-shaped bracket having one leg movably mounted on said floor for fore and aft adjustment, the other leg extending upwardly into the space enclosed by said cover housing,

(h) a mounting disc spaced from said other leg by a swivel mount,

(i) means to hold said disc against said swivel mount shiftable to permit infinite adjustment of said disc within the range of said swivel mount, and

(j) means fixedly mounting said reflector shield on said disc.

3. A device as defined in claim 2 in which said last means comprises two rigid axially extending arms spaced substantially 120 degrees apart on said disc having V- groove recesses to reserve the edges of the reflector shield, and a third resilient arm positioned on said disc substantially equidistant from first arms to resiliently urge said reflector against rigid arms and permit heat expansion of said reflector without distortion thereof.

4. In a lamp house assembly,

(a) a base comprising a floor panel and a raised front panel normal to the base apertured to serve as a light passage, a raised locating flange around the periphery of said base, and a depending skirt around the periphery of said base, said floor panel having vent apertures formed therein,

(b) a cover housing to overlie said base and abut the edges of said front panel to enclose a space above said floor panel, said cover having fins formed thereon with ventilating openings between said fins,

(c) a light shield within said cover housing spaced from and underlying said ventilating openings and a light shield within the depending skirt of said base spaced from and underlying said openings in said floor panel,

(d) a lamp support on said floor panel,

(e) a lamp movably mounted in said support,

(f) a reflector shield supported on said floor panel positioned adjustably adjacent said lamp in line with the aperture in said front panel,

(g) said base panel and said front panel each having flange means forming a 90 corner recess on two side edges and one end joining said side edges, said flange means on said base panel including said raised locating flange, the side edges of the front panel and the base panel merging at the juncture of said panels, and said cover housing having horizontal and vertical edges at the bottom and front thereof to seat into said corner recesses to provide a light seal around all of the contacting edges.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS Uhlemann 240-44 Hill 240-416 Dina 240-44 Hill 240-416 Buck 240-52 Pickering et a1. 240-47 70 NORTON ANSHER, Primary Examiner. 

1. IN A LAMP HOUSE ASSEMBLY, (A) A BASE COMPRISING A FLOOR PANEL AND A RAISED FRONT PANEL NORMAL TO THE BASE APERTURED TO SERVE AS A LIGHT PASSAGE, A RAISED LOCATING FLANGE AROUND THE PERIPHERY OF SAID BASE, AND A DEPENDING SKIRT AROUND THE PERIPHERY OF SAID BASE, SAID FLOOR PANEL HAVING VENT APERTURES FORMED THEREIN, (B) A COVER HOUSING TO OVERLIE SAID BASE AND ABUT THE EDGES OF SAID FRONT PANEL TO ENCLOSE A SPACE ABOVE SAID FLOOR PANEL, SAID COVER HVING FINS FORMED THEREON WITH VENTILATING OPENINGS BETWEEN SAID FINS, (C) A LIGHT SHIELD WITHIN SAID COVER HOUSING SPACED FROM AND UNDERLYING SAID VENTILATING OPENINGS AND A LIGHT SHIELD WITHIN THE DEPENDING SKIRT OF SAID BASE SPACED FROM AND UNDERLYING SAID OPENINGS IN SAID FLOOR PANEL, (D) A LAMP SUPPORT ON SAID FLLOR PANEL, (E) A LAMP MOVABLY MOUNTED IN SAID SUPPORT, (F) A REFLECTOR SHIELD SUPPORTED ON SAID FLOOR PANEL POSITIONED ADJUSTABLY ADJACENT SAID LAMP IN LINE WITH THE APERTURE IN SAID FRONT PANEL, (G) THE LAMP SUPPORT SERVING AS AN ANODE CONNECTION 